01/25/2013

When Gifts Become a Burden

The Brooklyn Museum
seemed to have garnered a bonanza in 1932 when it received a large bequest from
the estate of Col. Michael Friedsam, president of the elegant retail emporium
B. Altman. But eight decades later that cache of Dutch and Renaissance
paintings, Chinese porcelains, jewelry and furniture has become something of a
burden. A quarter of the 926 works have turned out to be fakes, misattributions
or of poor quality, and the museum potentially faces a hefty bill to store the
229 pieces it no longer wants.

It’s an awkward thing to give
away or sell a gift made to you. However, it can be even more awkward when you
can’t hold onto a gift. No, this is not a post-Christmas catastrophe, rather
it’s the very real problem so many museums face every year.

It seems that in 1932, Colonel
Michael Friedsam gave a massive collection to the then fledgling museum.
Nevertheless, since then the museum has grown and has too much to put on its
walls, no longer displays items like historic battle axes, and half the Colonel’s
collection turned out to be fakes or “not of museum quality.” Bottom line: the
museum wants to give or sell the artworks and stop paying the exorbitant
storage and restoration fees.

Now, it’s not that the museum is
unappreciative. No, it’s more complicated even than that. Unfortunately, the
Colonel’s will legally excludes any option the Colonel’s estate executor hasn’t
signed off on. Even more unfortunately, the last executor died in 1962.

The lesson for those with
artworks worth preserving for future generations is to include alternatives
permitting like-minded individuals (executors) to further your objectives for
your gifts in the future.

The Colonel and his estate
planners couldn’t have foreseen the next 90 years, but therein lies the
challenge. Predicting the future can be a very tricky thing and, certainly, a
very inexact science. So, how are your gifts structured?